NOTE: This is the fifth in a series of stories looking back at the quotes and notes of Miss Michigan title-holders through the years
MUSKEGON, MI - Here are some of the quotes and notes from Miss Michigan title-holders of the 1990s.
Miss Michigan 1990 Victoria Lynn Fair
The 21-year-old from Jackson performed the "Habanera" from Bizet's opera "Carmen." She had studied voice for 16 years at the time of her crowning and chose the number to show people that "opera can be fun," according to a Muskegon Chronicle report.
Fair also held the title of Jackson County Rose Queen, the first ever to hold that title and take the state crown.
Miss Michigan 1991 Sandra Kay Metiva
The 25-year-old elementary school music teacher from Traverse City performed a heartfelt version of "Amazing Grace."
"I've always wanted to teach, ever since I was 8," she said. "And I love music. I'm so fortunate to be able to do both of the things I love."
Miss Michigan 1992 Terri Sue Liford
Liford won the 1992 Miss Michigan pageant at the age of 24. Her battle with Hodgkins Disease, a type of lymphoma which she was diagnosed with about a year before competing, received national media attention.
According to an article published in 1993, Liford competed in the Miss America competition wearing a wig since she had lost her hair due to treatment.
According to a Muskegon Chronicle article from June 14, 1992, Liford's face was covered in tears when she won the 1993 Michigan pageant.
"I forgot what to do," she said in the 1992 article. "They had to tell me to wave."
Miss Michigan 1993 Stacy Gail Heisler
The 23-year-old from Livonia won for her vocal and violin rendition of Duke Ellington's jazzy "It Don't Mean a Thing if it Ain't got that Swing."
A contestant in 13 pageants since she was 13, the Miss Michigan pageant was to be her last, even if she didn't win.
"I thought it was time to get on with it. I would give 120 percent to this one, but that would be it," she said. "I thought, if I didn't make it this year. It wasn't to be."
Miss Michigan 1994 Maria Malay Kamara
The 24-year-old from Zeeland won with a vocal performance of "Romany Life." The graduate of Indiana University was the first runner-up in 1993.
Kamara is the daughter of Edward Kamara, a native born Liberian and former Muskegon Community College professor, who died in 1990 of lung cancer.
She championed a cultural diversity platform called "Unity through Diversity," which was in part inspired by the 1992 Rodney King riots in Los Angeles.
"Before you can solve a problem, you have to recognize there is a problem," she said. "A lot of people were in denial and what happened in L.A. was a wake-up call."
Miss Michigan 1995 Coni Lyn Hull
The 23-year-old from Jackson sang "To Be the Best I Can" a composition by Kiri Te Kanawa.
The youngest of one biological sister and 10 step-siblings, she motivated herself to lose weight prior to winning Miss Michigan title.
"I was quite heavy when I graduated from high school, but I've made a healthy lifestyle change and I've lost 50 pounds," she said. "I became interested in pageants because I always liked to perform, but I was self-conscious about the way I looked, so I promised myself if I could lose 20 pounds I would enter my first local pageant. Then I said if I could lose 15 more, I would enter again."
She finished third runner up in 1994 pageant and convinced herself that if she could lose 15 more pounds she would enter again. She did and she won.
Miss Michigan 1996 Jennifer Lynn Drayton
The 22-year-old from Saginaw won with a stunning piano performance of Beethoven's sonata No. 23. The performance also won her a preliminary talent award. The suicide of a high school friend inspired her to pursue the platform of 'Power of Commitment'
It also had an influence in her career goal of becoming a pastor.
"One person asked if I can still have fun," she said of the stereotypes around the career that she hoped to break. "Religion shouldn't be limiting, it should be liberating."
Miss Michigan 1997 Kimberly Stec
The 22-year-old from Rochester performed a lyrical jazz dance to "And I'm Telling You," a number from the musical "Dream Girls." She wore casts and braces on her legs and feet when she was a young child.
"My feet turned inward and my mother thought the dance lessons would strengthen them," she said. "I never have any trouble now."
Stec competed in eight local pageants before winning a place in Miss Michigan 1997.
Miss Michigan 1998 Laura Welling
The 23-year-old from Livonia did flips and round-offs to the theme from "Jurassic Park."
"It's kind of bittersweet," she said about relinquishing her crown a year later. "I'm sad, but you know what? I'm really excited for all the opportunities I've had."
Miss Michigan 1999 Audrie Chernaukas
The 23-year-old from Livonia performed a lyrical ballet en pointe to music from "Titanic." She spent much of her time as Miss Michigan promoting her platform: "Be Tobacco Free - Educating Youth about the Hazards of Tobacco."
Her paternal grandmother died from emphysema in 1995 and her grandfather to lung cancer in 1995.
She routinely criticized Michigan Gov. John Engler's policy and even reportedly chastised members of the State House in Lansing during a visit in September 1999 for "improper" spending of the state's $8.5 billion tobacco settlement on smoking causation programs.
Brandon Champion is a journalist for MLive.com. Email him at bchampio@mlive.com and follow him Facebook and Twitter.